Addressing the audience shortly after taking over the reins of Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturing Association (iCEMA) as its newly elected President in an Annual General meeting (AGM) held in Delhi recently, Mr. Amit Gossain, Executive Vice President Marketing, Business Development & Corporate Affairs at JCB India, reiterated the body's commitment to work in close quarters with government, policy makers and other stakeholders to create a favourable environment to exploit the untapped potentials of the construction sector to the hilt thereby helping the construction equipment industry to grow at a faster pace and scales newer heights.

Highlighting iCEMA role in construction equipment industry Mr. Gossain said "iCEMA, a truly representative body of the Indian construction equipment industry, plays a key role in looking after the genuine interest of the construction equipment and allied industries to ensure positive growth of the Indian infrastructure sector. Our panels look into manifold activities where the focus areas include closer coordination with project implementing authorities and overseas counterparts to invest in India by bringing state of art advanced technologies on account of enhanced mechanization of construction activities in India."

He further added that the panels will also look for setting up of independent facilities of the industry. Continuous skill development, alignment of activities to present government norms and policies are the added thrust of the panels whereas organizing conferences and seminars will also be on priority.

In his presentation, the Immediate Past President iCEMA & Vice President Business Development Asia, Volvo India, Mr. Glenville Da Silva, made a mention of umpteen business opportunities opening up for construction players from projects, which are being taken up in segments like railways and urban infrastructure. The government has accorded high priority to big ticket projects including dedicated freight corridor and speedy implementation of the PPP projects in the port sector. In fact, the iCEMA has in the past two years aligned itself with the global industry as a result of which India has now become the cynosure of global players, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. R K Gupta, Managing Director, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd (DFCCIL) reminded the gathering that DFC which is the ambitious project of Indian Railways offers countless business opportunities for construction equipment and allied industries in the infrastructure sector.

He informed that the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, being implemented by the Indian Railways through the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd (DFCCIL), aims to connect the important freight lanes between Delhi and Mumbai in the west and Ludhiana and Dankuni in the east. Ensuring the smooth completion of the project, over 90% of the land acquisition along with environmental clearances have already been put in place. The remaining portion of the route falls in areas requiring alignment changes and the company will also accomplish the task in the next six months. In addition, the DFCCIL is going ahead with its concept of setting up multimodal logistics parks at 6-7 strategic locations. Outlining the mechanisation approach of the project, he said that ensuring quality, timely delivery and reduction in costs are high on the project agenda. The commissioning of the first phase has already started wherein the entire project is likely to be completed by 2017.

Drawing a rosy picture, CEO, Srei-BNP Paribas and Executive Committee Member iCEMA, D.K Vyas, said that with strong fundamentals of the Indian economy, demand for construction equipment is likely to be stable in the long run. Moreover, the government's initiatives reducing interest rates and directives given to NHAI by the transport ministry for streamlining and speeding up the project delivery mechanism and redressal of disputes on priority basis, are likely to push the pace of project delivery resulting in an increased demand for construction equipment in the near future.

In his address, Member Secretary, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Mr Ajay Shankar, said that industry needs to think big and look ahead to solve the key issues such as acute shortage of skilled manpower. He called for a speedy implementation of iCEMA's efforts to institute a Sector Skill council for the construction equipment industry.

During AGM, it was also highlighted that the country's earthmoving and construction equipment (ECE) industry is very vibrant and poised to achieve a strong and consistent growth rate in the next two decades for which the government has set aside a staggering investment targets matching the burgeoning infrastructure deficit. The construction sector, apart from being a major GDP growth driver, is also the second largest job generator in the country, after agriculture. It provides a strong chain of backward and forward linkages with other sectors covering about 250 ancillary industries like cement, steel, brick, timber and building materials which are entirely dependent on the construction industry. In view of this, a unit increase in investment in the sector triggers a multiplier impact and causing a five folds increase in income generation capacities.

Growth in the construction equipment industry in India is directly linked to the overall level of infrastructure development as well as growth in construction activities. The industry has the potential to expand six to seven times - the total revenue which was $3.3 billion in 2010 is now expected to go up to $22.7 billion by 2020, concluded Accenture, in its research report carried out at the last Excon.

Spotlight on Internal Logistics - INTRALOGISTICA ITALIA

INTRALOGISTICA ITALIA is the only exhibition with a comprehensive offer dedicated to the most innovative solutions and integrated systems for industrial handling, warehouse management, materials storage and picking
Read More ...

9th ICI-Ultratech Awards Nite

The Indian Concrete Institute, Goa Centre, in association with Ultratech Cement Limited organized the 9th ICI-Ultratech Awards Nite on 19th February 2020 at Hotel Fidalgo, Panjim Goa. The annual event was attended by nearly 250 invitees
Read More ...

Smart Techniques & Solutions for Sustainable Construction

The Indian Concrete Institute in association with Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering organized a one-day seminar on Geopolymer Concrete Applications: Challenges and Opportunities. In this fast-developing world, it has become
Read More ...

Chinese construction equipment brands show up in large numbers at CONEXPO 2020

Conexpo 2020 was held as scheduled on March 10, 2020 in Las Vegas, USA. Established Chinese construction equipment enterprises like XCMG, Zoomlion, Sany, LiuGong, Shantui, Sunward, and many more once again demonstrated the strength
Read More ...

CONEXPO -CON/AGG & IFPE 2020

Multiple construction and construction materials industry segments unveiled new technologies and products, shared knowledge, networked with industry peers and bought equipment at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG & IFPE 2020, held at the Las Vegas
Read More ...

KONE inaugurates new warehouse in Mumbai

In line with its strategy to enhance customer experience with minimal downtime of elevators & escalators, and for swift deliveries of spares, KONE has opened a new warehouse at Andheri in Mumbai that houses more than 2000
Read More ...

World of Concrete 2020

The 45th edition of World of Concrete for the concrete & masonry industries drew about 54,000 registered professionals to the Las Vegas Convention Center and featured 1,310 companies (including 255 brand new companies) exhibiting
Read More ...

Members of VDMA Construction Equipment visualize promising future

Once a year, the specialist group meets in January to discuss operational issues and projects for the current year. In economic terms, the industry is still at the record level of 2018, and its sales in 2019 will match the previous
Read More ...

GCCA India announces first Chair and Co-chair of CEO Committee of member companies

iCEMA Conclave Discusses Measures to Make Finance Support More Viable

The 2nd Edition of iCEMA Conclave organized by Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association, deliberated on new avenues of construction equipment financing, challenges and measures. NBM&CW reports.
Read More ...

National Workshop on Advances in Waterproofing Technologies

The Indian Concrete Institute, Goa Centre, organized a One Day Workshop on “Recent Advances in Waterproofing Technologies” on 16th January 2020 at Metropole Hall, Hotel Nanutel, Margao Goa, under the aegis of Indian Concrete Institute
Read More ...

India’s Green Building Future Takes Shape

At Greenbuild India hundreds of green building and sustainability professionals discussed LEED and green building practices that help deliver a more sustainable future. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) held the third
Read More ...

7th International Conference on Construction Chemicals Focus on creating sustainable and durable structures

The Construction Chemicals Manufacturers Association (CCMA) hosted the 7th edition of International Construction Chemicals Conference at Hotel Taj Lands End in Mumbai. The theme was “Role of construction chemicals in infrastructure
Read More ...

Ashok Leyland, flagship company of the Hinduja Group, delivered the first batch of vehicles built on its new modular platform with i-Gen6 BSVI technology to its customers. The modular platform is first of its kind in the Indian CV
Read More ...

CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020

Held every three years, CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE is North America’s largest construction trade show, representing asphalt, aggregates, concrete, earthmoving, lifting, mining, fluid power, power transmission and motion control
Read More ...

Quest for Green Roads

Asphalt batching plant and surface preparation equipment manufacturer, Ammann India, in an interactive session with major stakeholders on sustainable, flexible and eco-friendly pavements, promotes usage of Modern Asphalt
Read More ...